My 12/2/2015 News Journal column.
There’s still time to get great gifts for hunters!
With a few shopping days left until Christmas, caring friends and family members still have adequate time to purchase thoughtful gifts for the hunters on their shopping lists. Although it’s relatively simple to visit the stores or web sites of local or national outdoors retailers and purchase any camouflaged thingamajig, shoppers will get greater satisfaction by spending their hard-earned money on gifts that hunters will actually use.
For the bigger spenders, new, full-size, animated goose decoys (like the Lucky Duck Goose and the Flapper Cabela’s Instinct Wingman) hit the market this year and appeal to waterfowlers, but their $200 to $400 price tags may be cost prohibitive for some. Likewise, shiny, easy-to-use game meat smokers catch the eyes of most hunters, but their steep prices leave most hunters merely wishing instead of buying.
Less expensive food-processing gifts are also high on hunters’ lists. Since just about everyone loves jerky (and because hunters are usually looking for new ways to utilize their harvested game meat), shoppers should consider buying food dehydrators. Entry-level dehydrators cost less than $50, though models with more advanced features and capabilities are priced higher. Other hunter-worthy, food-processing gifts include food storage vacuum sealers (and the associated bags or material rolls), butcher tool kits (that usually include saws, shears, and various knives), and knife sharpeners that help keep hunting, butchering, and food preparation tools in optimal shape.
For hunters who have almost everything and who enjoy the hunting traditions and styles of yesteryear, shoppers should turn to stores and web sites that sell vintage hunting gear or new gear that is based on vintage styles. Quick searches for “vintage hunting” on eBay turn up all sorts of cool wool hunting garments from the 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s, and companies like Stormy Kromer and Filson sell new wool hunting and outdoors gear that draws upon the styles of the past.
Budget-conscious shoppers can buy thoughtful gifts by sticking to tried-and-true, inexpensive items that hunters can’t have enough of. Deer hunters always want more trail cameras, along with the appropriate batteries and memory cards. Similarly, hunters can never have enough flashlights. Gift shoppers can help prevent flashlight calamities by buying brightly colored (not camouflaged), impact-resistant, water-resistant flashlights that include lanyards.
Hunter safety is always a primary concern. Low-profile personal flotation devices, comfortable tree stand body harnesses and fall-restraint systems, basic first aid kits, and high-tech emergency notification devices and locator beacons are all gifts that truly keep giving.
Holiday shoppers who are still struggling with gift ideas for hunters should turn to the universal gifts that always fits: gift cards. Or cash. Trust me: Hunters like both.